Excerpt from The Problem of the Nations: A Study in the Causes, Symptoms and Effects of Sexual, Disease, and the Education of the Individual Therein

I am not a medical man. If I were I probably could not have tackled the subject from this independent point of View. My out look would, I feel, have been prejudiced. I have the deepest respect and admiration for the medical profession. I am told that the first man my eyes ever looked upon was a doctor, and I have been most intimately associated with the profession ever since.

But, with all due respect to its members, I cannot help thinking that those who specialize in a subject such as Sexual Disease are too prone to work with their eyes glued to the microscope. They discover and record details with the utmost nicety of precision; they cannot always grasp the subject in its entirety, the big human side of it. Those who do not specialize 'must needs possess a good working knowledge of the subject, but they must also give an equal share of attention to half a hundred other departments of their work. They have not the time nor opportunity to go into details.

My own methods of investigation have been perfectly simple. In fact it has been so easy that I never cease to wonder why in this country it has not been done years ago. There is no doubt whatever that it should have been done; nor should it have been left for a layman to take it up, almost by pure accident. Certainly, Ihave had exceptional facilities for acquiring information, and for these I must record my indebtedness to my connection with The Royal Institute of Public Health.

That key has unlocked the doors Of Official statistical bureaux and Ministries Of Health all over the world. It has enabled me to approach some Of the greatest Of living specialists; men like Professor Ehrlich, to whom all bow in homage; Professor Dr. S. Hata, of Tokyo, his former collaborator; Dr. Simon Flexner, Of New York; the Director Of the Health Department in St. Peters burg; Dr. Georges Miron, Of Bucarest; Dr. L. J. Landouzy, Of Paris; Professor Gosio, Of Rome; and many others whose names are too numerous to mention.

In London I have received the courteous and willing assistance Of men like Dr. F. Mott, Mr. J. Ernest Lane, Dr. J. J. Perkins, Dr. B. Burnett Ham, late Director Of the Health Depart ment, Victoria; lt.-colonel C. H. Melville, and several others. And, lastly, but really first, I have turned the pages Ofa hundred or more publications Of varying importance, from the invaluable works of Professor Alfred Fournier, Professor Blaschko, Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, and Dr. C. F. Marshall, down through medical journals Of every country, reports Of proceedings, blue books Of all sorts and sizes, to newspaper cuttings from a press cutting agency.

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